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I'm looking for a good recipe for holiday cookies -- the kind you roll out, cut out shapes, bake & decorate. My kids have become frustrated in the past by dough that falls apart or is too thin, cut-out cookies that scrunch up or fall apart when you transfer them to the cookie sheet, baked cookies that are so brittle they fall apart when you try to decorate them, etc. What should be a fun activity becomes stressful for all of us. I'm not concerned about flavor too much, this is almost more of an art project than a cooking project. What are your tried-and- true recipies and tips? Melinda
Jul Pepparkakor (Swedish Christmas Spice Cookies) 5 1/2 oz butter 2 1/2 C sugar 1C Mork sirap (beet syrup, available from Nordic House in Oakland, the dark version is the best, buy early as they sometimes run out of it- don't substitute anything else!) 3/4 C water 1T ground cinnamon 1T ground ginger 1T ground cloves 1T baking soda 6C flour (may take a bit more) Cream butter, sugar, and sirap Add water, spices, and baking soda Work in the flour (make it quite stiff, I knead it like bread dough to get it stiff enough- that helps to prevent sticking) Wrap in plastic and chill over night. Roll and cut. Cook 5-7 minutes at 350 and cool on a rack.Butter your cookies tins very very lightly, shake flour on them then shake it off to keep cookies from sticking. It is worth it to invest in good cookie sheets that are specifically made for cookies, use them only for cookies, and keep them very clean- that will also go a long way toward preventing sticking. I wash my sheets between batches if they start to get sticky. Good cookie sheets are available from places like Sur la Table in Berkeley. Cecelia
SUGAR COOKIES 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp 2 cups white sugar 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons either vanilla OR fresh lemon juice plus zest of two lemons 1. Sift the flour, baking powder & salt in large bowl. Set aside. 2. With mixer, cream butter & sugar til fluffy. Beat in eggs. 3. Add flour mixture. Mix on low until combined. Stir in vanilla or lemon. 4. Divide dough in half, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 30 minutes. 5. Heat oven to 325. Roll dough to 1/8'' thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with cutters. Transfer to silpat and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake for 8 to 10, until edges are pale brown and then cool on wire racks. GINGERBREAD COOKIES 6 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed 4 teaspoons ground ginger 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 2 large eggs 1 cup unsulfured molasses 1. Sift flour, powder, soda in a large bowl. Set aside. 2. With mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Min in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture, combine on low speed. Divide dough into thirds, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour. 3. Heat oven to 350. Roll dough to 1/8'' thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with cutters. Transfer to silpat and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Bake for 8 to 10, but don't let cookies darken. Cool on wire racks.Also see Martha By Mail for a pretty good cookie decorating kit:
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=product&id=product1276&site=&rsc=
Ann
Dream Cookies 1 cup butter or margarine 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 = teaspoons baking powder 1 Tablespoon cream or evaporated milk < teaspoon baking soda (mixed into milk) 3 = to 4 cups flour Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat again. Blend in vanilla, baking powder, and cream and baking soda mixture. Stir in flour, using just enough so the dough is not sticky. Stir well to blend in all flour. Roll out and cut into shapes. For a nice glaze, paint cookies with a mixture of canned evaporated mix and food colouring before baking. Bake at 325 F for 15 minutes or until golden. Don't overbake.Barbara
3/4 cup butter 2/3 cup sugar 1 egg 2 cups unsifted flour 1/2 tsp almond extract 1 tsp vanilla (1/4 tsp salt--can skip if butter is salted)Mix softened butter, sugar, salt until smooth. Add egg, vanilla, almond; beat until fluffy. Slowly add flour, stirring with wooden spoon. Shape in ball, flatten, wrap; refrigerate for at least two hours. Roll on lightly floured board to 1/8'' thickness. Cut out shapes. Bake at 325F for 8-10 minutes. Nomi
Whatever recipe you choose, be sure to make the dough hours in advance of when you want to actually make the cookies. Divide the dough into 3 or four sections, roll those into balls and then flatten into disks. Wrap in Saran wrap and put in the fridge for several hours. Use one at a time, and as soon as one gets a little too warm and sticky, dust it with flour and re- roll, re-flatten, re-wrap and toss it back in the fridge (or, if you will be returning to it quickly, give it a head-start on the cooling process by putting it in the freezer for a short while). Good luck and happy baking! Sarah
My 3 year old son loves to bake, so we bake muffins, scones or cookies at least once a week. The problem is finding relatively healthy (low fat, low sugar, healthy flours) recipes. My son really loves using cookie cutters, but most rolled cookies are really heavy on the butter and I'm kind of sick of the muffin recipes we've been using, too. Any suggestions for simple to make (too many steps and he loses interest), healthy and good- tasting cookies and muffins would be much appreciated. Thanks! Dashka
Pumpkin muffins: 3 cups whole wheat flour 2 cups sugar 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 1/2 tsp table salt 4 large egg(s) 1/2 cup canola oil 2/3 cup water 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 2 cups canned pumpkin 1. mix dry ingredients 2. mix wet ingredients 3. blend 4. spray muffin tins with spray oil 5. bake at 350 10-15 min.This is not a muffin or cookie, but maybe your child would like it. We have a plastic ice pop mold (but you can use ice cube trays and toothpicks). We throw 1 banana, a handful of strawberries or other fruit and one small container of sweetened fruit yogurt into the blender, make a smoothie, and then freeze it. My kids won't eat the smoothy, but they love the ice pops. susan
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